Dental ECHO

Dr. Todd Hartsfield, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, graduated from Loyola Dental School in New Orleans in 1970. He served two years as a U.S. Army dentist, including a tour in South Vietnam. While in Vietnam, he started a dental training program for Buddhist monks at the Buddhist Center in Qui Nhon. Dr. Hartsfield’s 52-year dental career has included private practice in rural Louisiana and Canada, public health dentistry and dental education. He spent 20 years in northern Canada training, supervising and working alongside dental therapists in isolated northern communities. As the Dental Director for the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona for 5 years, he trained Tribal members to develop and implement oral health promotion/disease prevention programs, such as dental sealants, fluoride varnish and xylitol gum, in addition to providing care in IHS/Tribal clinics.  Dr. Hartsfield was an Assistant Professor of Clinical Dentistry at the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ASDOH), Associate Clinical Director at Dental Care West, a private practice model clinic that is part of ASDOH, and full time faculty in the Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency Program for 9½ years. Dr. Hartsfield now works 3 days a week providing dental care for the underserved populations in the Zachary area.

Dr. Catrina Ratliff attained her dental training at Meharry School of Dentistry in Nashville, Tennessee over 25 years ago. Upon completion of her training there, she completed a general dentistry residency at Kino Community Hospital in Tucson, Arizona. Her mission to dentally serve the underserved population has been accomplished via her long career providing that care mostly at Federally Qualified Health Centers throughout the state of Louisiana. To be able to provide care to another developing underserved segment of our population, she trained for and has received her mini-residency certification in Geriatric Dentistry at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. In addition to those trainings, she recently completed the National Oral Healthcare Leadership Institute as a part of the National Network of Oral Healthcare Association’s 10^th Cohort. She currently works with the Louisiana Department of Public Service and Corrections.

Celeste Terry serves as co-lead for the South/Southeast Region of OPEN, Inc. (Oral Health Progress and Equity Network) after serving as the LA Grassroots Representative, where she is actively engaged in oral health access and equity. Networking with Louisiana State Representative, regional and national oral health connection teams to develop strategies that directly impact oral health equity for all. Her work in policy and advocacy includes recent visits such as Veterans on Oral Health Hill Day 2023 with AIDPH (American Institute of Dental Public Health), Dentist Day at the State Capitol with LDA (Louisiana Dental Association), and Hill Days with OPEN. She continues to engage and advocate for oral health issues on a State level. Additionally, she is the Louisiana Head Start Dental Hygienist Liaison (DHL) through the National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety (NCHBHS). She is currently employed with EXCELth, Inc. as a dental hygienist and school sealant program coordinator for Louisiana Seals Smiles Program.

Dr. Gary D. Klasser obtained his dental degree from the University of Manitoba (Canada) in 1980. Over the next 22 years, he enjoyed the practice of general dentistry from both a public health and private practice perspective until he returned to graduate studies in 2002. In 2004, he completed his training and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Certificate in Orofacial Pain. In 2005, he completed a fellowship in Oral Medicine/Oral Oncology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). From 2005–2011, he was an Assistant Professor and Director of the Oral Medicine/Orofacial Pain clinic at the College of Dentistry in the University of Illinois at Chicago. Currently, he is a Professor in the Department of Diagnostic Sciences at Louisiana State University, School of Dentistry and a Fellow of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain.

Dr. Mikki Smith Bouquet, MD, was born and raised in Baton Rouge and spent the entirety of her educational career in Louisiana. She earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from Louisiana State University A&M and her medical doctorate from LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. She attended her pediatric residency at Our Lady of the Lake (OLOL) in Baton Rouge where she served as Pediatric Chief Resident in her final year. She now is an attending physician at the Pediatric Academic Clinic which is the OLOL pediatric residency outpatient clinic in which she did her training. Some of her passions include newborn care, fluoride education, medical student & resident teaching, and community outreach. Dr. Bouquet is a board-certified physician and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP). In addition to her educational background, Dr. Bouquet is involved with several medical organizations and communities such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Medical Association (AMA), the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, the LA Medical Society, and the Louisiana Families for Vaccines (LFV).